Deception
by Danny Phantom SG-1
Summary: Sequel to my story The Ecto Shot. What were they planning at the end, and what more can Danny go through? Don't want to give anything away, so just read and review, please! Oh, but read The Ecto Shot first or this won't make sense...
1. Chapter 1

Danny Phantom belongs to Nickelodeon, Viacom and Butch Hartman or whoever else. I just know for certain that it doesn't belong to me and I don't make any money off of it.

Deception

"Crud! Late for school again," Danny said, slipping on his coat as he ran out the door. "Darn it! Jazz already left! She must have thought I was sick or something,"

His older sister had taken to doing that lately. Ever since the "shot" incident, she'd been a little more cautious regarding his physical health and had been giving him more time to himself...in his opinion, a little too much time.

"I'm goin'--" he paused when he saw some children on the sidewalk about 15 feet away, staring at him with wide eyes as he yelled, "--to school. Yeah. On my way to school...that way," Danny tried to cover for his almost-slip-up.

The wind was blowing in his face and Danny pulled his collar up to help shield himself from the cold. He glanced at his watch. Ten minutes into first period. Lancer was going to have a fit. Danny muttered under his breath, cursing the fact that there seemed to be so many people on the roads. Normally, he would go ghost and fly to school, but that would attract a little too much attention today. It was still pretty dark and he had to squint into the wind to see where he was going. That's when he heard the sound of a car coming up behind him. He waited for it to pass by, but it never did. He kept walking, nonchalantly glancing back a little at a time to see where it was. He didn't see it, but he still heard the slow rumbling of its engine.

"What is going on?" Danny mumbled, beset by curiosity. He finally turned a 180 and stopped to see a limo parked right behind him.

"Why, hello, Daniel," said a voice Danny had come to recognize, unfortunately, so well.

"Plasmius? What are you doing here?" Danny said as the man got out of his car.

"Just thought I'd give my favorite little 'adoptive nephew' a ride to school...is that so much to ask?"

"No, thanks. I think I'm better off walking," Danny said, as he immediately turned back around to start jogging to school. He was 20 minutes late already.

But Vlad caught him by his up-turned collar.

"Oh, Daniel, I really do think that you should hitch a ride with me."

With so many people around, Danny couldn't go ghost. He was about to scream when Vlad put a hand over his mouth and shoved him into the car.

'No one noticed a fourteen year old boy just get shoved unwillingly into a limo...I could have just gone ghost and apparently no one would have noticed anyway!' Danny thought bitterly, cursing retrospect.

Vlad got in behind him and the driver continued on their route to Casper High.

"What do you want from me, Plasmius?"

"I already told you, Daniel, nothing," said Vlad as he rummaged through Danny's book bag. He seemed to have found what he wanted when his eyes grew wide and he grinned.

"What are you doing?" Danny asked, yanking it back.

"Looking for blackmail. Where ever did you get this picture of you and your friend Tucker hugging?"

"Hey! Give that back! I stole it from Sam. I don't need more blackmail." Danny mumbled.

"I think I'll hang onto this, Daniel. You never know whose fingerprints I might need..." Vlad said smoothly.

Danny glared, his eyes flashing an angry green.

"Oh, I do so love it when you give those 'angry eyes', Daniel. You become more like me everyday."

Danny was about to retort when the limo came to a quick halt in front of Casper High.

"There you go, Daniel. No harm done," Vlad said, his eyes brimming with wicked glee.

"No thanks," Danny said, stepping out and slamming the limousine door shut.

He watched, ever suspicious, as Vlad's limo went careening down the street. He furrowed his brow, wondering what his interest would be in a picture of he and Tucker. He heard the bell to second period ring from outside the school and he decided now was not the time to dwell on such matters as he ran up the stairs and into the school building.

Yep, he was right. Lancer did have a fit, but only one day's detention was administered, as that was the maximum penalty for an unexcused tardy.

"Dude, are you okay? You've been late for school 2 days this week...and it's only Tuesday!" his friend Tucker said, meaning to sound concerned.

"I'm fine. Just still a little shaky from the whole 'shot' incident," Danny reassured.

"But that was a month ago, Danny," Sam said. "Are you ever going to get over it?"

"Yeah! I mean, I'm over it now. I just need to catch on some missed sleep, that's all," Danny said, hoping that was the truth.

His friends exchanged nervous glances, but said nothing more about that subject, allowing Danny his personal space. He'd been more prone to moodiness lately and they really didn't want to bring that side of him out again.

Danny eyed his soup as he pulled it out of his lunchbox in the cafeteria. He sighed. Why did he have to be so lazy when he packed his lunch this morning? Oh, that's right, because he slept in and didn't have time to pack anything but soup. At least he hadn't used the Fenton Thermos on accident, he thought with a slight smile. This soup seemed as though it was slightly tinted green. He wasn't a big fan of his mom's home cooking. Neither was the rest of his family, which was the reason they often ordered out. Well, nothing he could do to change it now, he thought bitterly as he shoved a spoonful of the vile-looking soup into his mouth.

He winced at the taste. It was like eating chicken...with extra snot. He nearly gagged as he began to push the thermos away, but Sam stopped him.

"Not today, Danny. You haven't been eating anything for lunch these past few days. I'm worried about you. You need to eat to keep your strength up."

Danny gave a typical teenage-boy-who's-irritated sigh. He plugged his nose and downed the soup quickly as Sam watched with narrow eyes, as if to make sure he finished every last drop. Sometimes, he thought, she was more like a mother than a girlfr--er--friend. Just friend.

"Good," Sam smiled as the bell rang for the next class. "Let's go, Danny."

"Yeah, I'm coming," he said as he stuffed the thermos back into his lunchbox.

It was during study hall that Danny told Sam and Tucker about his encounter with Vlad. They seemed worried.

"Plasmius? What's he doing around here?" Tuck asked.

"Apparently looking for blackmail," Danny said.

Sam snickered, remembering taking the photo of Tucker and Danny as they hugged unintentionally.

"Yeah, laugh all you want. It's not so funny that your only copy of that picture is now in the hands of Danny's worst enemy."

"Oh, please, Tucker. Do you actually think I wouldn't make more than one copy of a picture as priceless as that?"

Danny and Tucker gulped simultaneously.

"Anyway, back on topic. This is really weird, first that hair, then this 'fingerprint on blackmail' thing. Vlad's up to something."

That's right, the hair. Danny had almost forgotten about that; it had been so long ago. What would Vlad be doing with fingerprints and hair?

"Well, let me know if you discover anything, all right, Danny?" Sam said.

"Yeah; me, too. We're always here for you, man," Tucker supported.

"Thanks. I will," said Danny, glad he had friends he could count on.

DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP

Later that night, Danny sat in bed contemplating his earlier encounter with Vlad. Danny wasn't sure what Vlad would do with his fingerprints...or hair.

Maybe he'd leave them at a crime scene so Danny would be pinned for a crime he didn't commit. No...Vlad was too direct when it came to his evil deeds to do that. After all, it doesn't get much more direct than kidnapping a 14-year-old, shoving him into a limo and rummaging through his backpack.

An unfamiliar sensation all of a sudden went through Danny. It was as though a wave of exhaustion was covering his body from his feet, slowly all the way up to his head. For a brief moment, he felt as though he was going to pass out, but it never happened. His vision returned and feeling came back into his limbs.

"What was that?" he muttered to himself. He passed it off as nothing, just another spell as an after-effect of last month.

He quickly jumped to his feet. He needed Jazz's help on this one. She was smarter (much as he hated admitting it to her, personally) and would know what Vlad wanted with his fingerprints.

"Jazz? We're leaving, okay? Be good and take care of Danny for us!" he heard his parents say as the door slammed.

Go? Where were they going? He slapped his forehead as he remembered; it was their anniversary, and Dad had actually remembered this year. He was planning to take Mom on a cruise for the occasion...that was, his memory working, not their anniversary.

"Jazz?" Danny called into the living room.

"Mmm?" She said, not looking up from her book, So You're the Only Responsible One in the Family.

At first, Danny shook his head at such a long book title, then continued, "Can I talk to you?"

She glanced up. Danny never wanted to talk, so when he said he did...it was serious.

"Sure," she said, putting her book down and scooting over, allowing him room to sit beside her on the couch.

He told her the story of that morning when Vlad had pulled up and driven him to school. Jazz listened intently, soaking in every detail as Danny talked.

When he was finished, she sat analyzing the information for awhile.

"Maybe he needs your DNA or something to finish those clones he was working on."

Danny shook his head. "No, he just needed a mid-morph sample for that. Which, by the way, he is never going to get!"

The effort it took to say that last sentence with certain intensity nearly wore him out and he began to sway back and forth from his position on the couch.

Jazz caught him as he finally collapsed, dazed, but not unconscious.

"Danny, what's wrong?"

"I don't know. It happened a little while ago, too. I feel like I'm going to pass out," he said faintly.

Jazz thought a moment. "Danny, did Vlad do anything else?"

Danny shook his head, mesmerized.

"Now, I need you to think very hard and remember, Danny. Did Vlad do ANYTHING else?"

Danny shut his eyes and thought intently. "I just saw him snoop around in my backpack for a little while, then he pulled out the picture."

"How do you know he didn't do anything else to your book bag?"

"I--I guess I don't," Danny said, horrified.

They both sat thinking before Danny's head finally cleared and it came to him.

"The soup!"

"What?"

Before he could answer, he was up and running into the kitchen, he pulled out the leftover soup still in the refrigerator.

It did not have a green tint.

Danny put the container down and backed up, leaning on the table.

"Danny, what's wrong?" Jazz asked, eyeing her brother worriedly.

"Jazz, I--I think I've been poisoned."

**DUN DUN DUN!!!! I decided to post this one in chapters (unlike Ecto-Shot) because I'm not done with it, yet and I thought I would see how people reacted if my stories weren't posted all at once. The other ones were because they were all done by the time I got my account. Blah blah blah. Sorry for rambling. Please send me feedback--REVIEW!!! Thanks mucho!!**

**Hopefully more chapters will be up soon…but that all depends on reviews, I suppose…**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here is Chapter Two! I told you reviews made me write faster. This is probably the fastest I've ever gotten around to writing something!! Not much happens…'til the end of the chapter. (evil laugh) Let me know how it is.**

"What?" Jazz asked, confused.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no…the—the—the soup I ate—lunch. Oh, no, I ate it. Green. No, no. The soup—look. No—no green!" he yelled frantically.

"Danny what are you talking about?"

"THIS SOUP'S NOT GREEN!"

"Danny, come on. Let's just calm down and talk slowly and rationally—"

"Calm? You expect me to be calm at a time like this? I'm gonna DIE!"

"Oh, Danny, you don't know that! Now, please, tell me what you are talking about. Why do you think you've been poisoned?"

Danny took a deep breath and tried to speak calmly, "I ate soup from this container for lunch. This soup isn't green. The soup I ate for lunch had a touch of green in it. Now, all of a sudden, I feel like passing out all the time. That's what Vlad must have been doing in my book bag. He must have poisoned me!"

Jazz tilted her head skeptically, "I don't know, Danny. That's not a lot of information to go on. Maybe your soup just turned green because it's going bad, and now you're getting sick."

"Then why isn't THIS soup green?" he shouted at her.

Jazz thought for a moment, then decided to cave into her brother's logic, "All right. I'll believe you. Maybe he _did_ do something to your soup. What do you suggest we do about it?"

Danny closed his eyes and tried to think. _Okay, don't panic. It'll only make you pass out. Now, who would know how to cure a poison?_

"The Chemist…" he said softly.

"The Chemist? Isn't he the one who--?"

"Made a cure for the ecto-shot, yeah. He would know how to cure this."

"I don't know, Danny. How do you know he's not the one who made the poison in the first place?"

"I don't. In fact, he's _probably_ the one who made it. But it was under Vlad's orders, I'm sure. He must have given the Chemist something to pay him…and my hair," He said in realization. "This poison must have been directed to _me_ so they needed_ my_ DNA. All I've got to do is pay the Chemist something else he'll want and he'll give me a cure."

"I'm not so sure…"

"Well, do you know anyone else who knows cures to ghost poisons?"

"No," Jazz finally answered in defeat.

"Okay, then. Let's go get Sam and Tucker. We might need their help."

As they were heading out the door, Danny had to stop for a minute to lean on the door frame. His eyes were closed and he was holding his head.

"Danny…?"

"I'll be okay," Danny said weakly. _I hope._

DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP

"And you're completely sure about this?" Sam asked. They had all made it back to Danny's basement and the Ghost Portal was open and ready to go.

"No. But there is no other plan anyone can think of--," Tucker opened his mouth, "—that does _not_ involve calling my parents, telling them I'm a ghost and getting them to try and make a cure—," Tucker's mouth closed, "—so this one is going to have to do."

Sam was still uneasy, "What if you get into trouble?"

Danny tried to give her a reassuring smile, "I can take care of myself, Sam. If I'm not back in 3 hours, you guys will come looking for me, okay? That's why you're here."

She hesitated, then nodded, still not comfortable with the situation.

"I can't risk taking you guys with me. I don't know who I may meet up with on the way and, no offense, but having you guys floating around behind me in the Specter Speeder might just get in my way."

Danny grabbed the handful of chemicals they had managed to gather from his parents' lab (making sure none were lethal), a few beakers, a radio, and a not-yet-working ecto-blaster. He didn't know what the Chemist would want for pay, and he figured none of that stuff would get anyone into any _serious_ trouble.

"Okay, then. I'll see you guys later," Danny said, heading for the portal

"Wait!" Sam called.

"What?"

She hesitated, then went with, "Good luck," mentally kicking herself for not saying what she had really been trying to say.

Danny smiled at her, "Thanks."

And off he went.

DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP

Danny was panting with exertion by the time he reached the Chemist's "house".

"Okay. I just have to go in, make a little trade, get the cure, and get out," he said to himself.

He knocked on the door three times and the door slowly opened.

"Yesssssss?" came a familiar, raspy voice.

Danny gulped, "It's me, Danny Phantom. Remember? Look, uh, I have reason to believe I've been poisoned and I have a feeling you might know what's in it and how to cure it, so…"

Suddenly, a net flew out of the Chemist's house and engulfed Danny.

"Hey!" he yelled and tried to break free, but it was to no avail. The net had ecto-energy around it and prevented ghosts—prevented _him_—from breaking through.

The Chemist came out of his dwelling, "Yessssss, of courssssssse I remember you. We have sssssome unfinished bussssinessssssss…" he said with an evil cackle, then reeled Danny in, the net still firmly wrapped around him, and shut the door.

**Once more an evil stop. At least I thought it was evil. Then again, I know what's going to happen next and you don't so it might not be as suspenseful for you. As I said, please review! I love reviews/reviewers!!! The more I get the faster I write…usually…**


	3. Chapter 3

**((weak laughter)) Hehe…don't hurt me, please! I _tried_ to get this up sooner, but school work and this thing most people call "writer's block" plagued me. I _do_ know where this story is going, don't worry. I'm just not EXACTLY sure how to get there, if you know what I mean, without making it seem too cheesy. **

**So…here's the next chapter…hopefully it's good…I guess you guys will tell me, though…please?**

Danny moaned. He opened his eyes just enough so that he could see through them. What had happened? Where was he? How long had he been out of it? He must have asked the last question aloud, because someone answered.

"About two hourssssssss," came a raspy voice, and, along with it, Danny's memory.

"Ch-chemist?" Danny questioned, making sure his memory wasn't failing him.

"Who elsssssse? Honesssssstly, I'm ssssssssurprised you didn't come sssssssooner."

"Right. I need a cure for a poison. See, I think Vlad poisoned me and—"

"Yesssss, yessss, I know, boy. I _made_ the poison."

Danny sighed, "I figured as much. Look, I have things—payment—," he said, addressing the contents that lay on the floor surrounding him, "that I could give you if you'll just help me find a cure."

The Chemist let out a deathly quiet laugh. "Payment. I have no need of sssssuch thingssss," he snickered, "What I need, Danny Phantom, isssssss you."

"Me? Why me?"

"Becausssssse, boy, ghosts were once humansssssss, too. To make ussss all-powerful and perfect ourselvessssss, the DNA of a half ghost would be very usssssseful."

Danny's brain finally started clicking. "Like Spectra. She wanted my DNA to lock in her new form."

"But it didn't work. She didn't know what she was doing. Even if she had gained _your_ DNA and not your putrid father'ssssss sssssssnot, her form would not have lasted more than three hoursssssss."

Danny cocked his head, confused. "Then how do _you _propose to use my DNA to enhance ghosts?"

The Chemist merely smiled maniacally and left the room. Danny sat inside his rather confining cage and stared at the door as Chemist left. This was not good.

DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP

"I knew we should have gone," Sam said.

"Geez, girls worry too much. I'm sure Danny's fine," Tucker said calmly.

"Yeah? Well, it's been three hours, which means that Danny's in trouble," Sam said.

"So, what do you want to do? Go into the ghost zone and fly around aimlessly in the Specter Speeder? We don't know where the Chemist guy lives," Tucker reasoned.

Sam growled low in her throat. "Oooooh, that Danny! Why didn't he tell us where he was going? More importantly, why didn't I ask?!? Augh, I'm so STUPID! He's going to die and it's all my fault."

"He's not gonna die," Tucker said, rolling his eyes at her.

"HELLO!! He's been poisoned and we don't know how long it will be until it takes effect, nor what it will do to him!"

"Exactly. Who says it's going to kill him?"

"Who says it's NOT?"

"Sam."

"TUCKER!"

They stopped arguing. Tucker was scrunched down into his seat to avoid being hit by Sam, who was by now two inches away from him and standing over him menacingly, steam nearly visibly escaping from her ears.

Jazz, who had left earlier to retrieve something she claimed was important, returned to the room to see Sam looming over Tucker.

"Ooooookay…maybe you guys should get a room. Preferably one that's not our basement…or in our house."

Sam and Tucker glanced at Jazz, then noticed how close they were. They quickly scrambled back into normal positions, blushing.

"So, um, Jazz…what'd you go get?"Tucker said, trying to direct attention away from the unintentional scene he and Sam had starred in.

"This," she said. She pulled out the small screen she was holding for both of them to see.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"Remember Danny took a radio to trade if necessary? If he's in trouble, someone (hopefully Danny) may have turned it on. The transmission will show up on this screen."

"Show up? I thought it was a radio," Tucker said, bewildered.

"It has video capability."

"Geez, Jazz, then it's not a radio. Being an avid techno-geek I would know. It's probably a--,"

"I don't CARE, Tucker. Just shut up!" she said harshly.

Tucker promptly shut his mouth.

Jazz turned on the screen. She was greeted by a small, dark room. In the corner was a lit fireplace, the room's only light source. Suddenly, a figure appeared through a door in the room. It was the Chemist. At least, she assumed he was the Chemist; he fit Danny's description, though he may have been slightly more disgusting than she thought. It appeared that the radio was sitting on the floor inside of a cage. Jazz gasped. She hoped Danny was not in the cage…but why would the radio be there and not Danny? She held her breath, waiting for someone to speak.

"I have returned," the Chemist said.

Then, dismayed, she heard Danny's voice coming from beside the "camera-radio". "No kidding. Like I couldn't see that," he said sarcastically. He sounded tired and this worried Jazz.

The Chemist smiled a little, then took out his hands from behind his back to reveal several uncomfortable-looking sharp objects.

"Umm…I'm guessing those aren't for your needle-point hobby…" Danny said warily.

"No," the Chemist answered needlessly. "You asssssked before how I would usssse your DNA to enhance a ghost'sssss form and power," he said, while slowly laying all of his "utensils" out on a table in the middle of the room so that Danny could see them. "I will need to perform a few…experimentssssss, if you will, to find the besssssst usssse for your half-ghost DNA…and the bessssst place from which to extract it," he said, pushing the air out of one of the exceedingly sharp needles.

Danny gulped in horror watching this. Ugh, he hoped someone had turned on the camera-radio back home. Although how they would help him he was unsure.

"Wh—what about the poison? What does that have to do with anything?" Danny asked, as another wave of exhaustion spread through him.

The Chemist smirked again. "Ah, yessss. It wasssss designed especially for you, ghossssst-boy. It will continue to weaken you, sssssymptomssss getting worssssse as time goesssss by. In approximately 24 hoursssss after ingestion, your ghossssst half will be shut down."

"WHAT?"

"When did you ingesssst the poison?" the Chemist asked, ignoring Danny's cry of terror.

"A-about noon."

"And it isss eight o'clock, now. You have sixteen more hoursssss before the poison takesssss its complete effect. Without your ghosssst half, it is possible that your human half will shut down as well. It should be a sssssufficient time to finish my experimentsssss, but believe me, I would have enjoyed to have more time experimenting with you," he said maliciously. "The shut down was Plasmius'sssssss idea."

Danny lowered his eyebrows angrily, "Plasmius…" he whispered.

Obviously enjoying the sound of his own voice, as most villains do, Chemist continued talking. "I did create a cure upon Plasmius'ssssss requesssssst—jussssst in case he accidentally sssssswallowed it while it wassss in his possssssssession. But it containsssss elementssss uncommon to most householdsssss."

"Like what?" Danny ventured.

Oblivious of Danny's true intentions, the Chemist answered, "Filtered ectoplasm only found in ghost blood issssss the main ingredient. The other ingredientsssss are. juice from the Lunch Lady'sssss meat, a drop of magic from Desiree, and cough medicine."

Danny scrunched his nose and forced himself not to gag at the mere thought of drinking something like that…but he would rather drink it than die. Gosh, he hoped someone at home was listening.

"And now, Danny Phantom," the Chemist said, slowly approaching Danny, "Let ussss begin."

Danny closed his eyes, preparing for the worst. He remembered that the camera-radio was on, and if someone really was watching, he'd rather they not see any experiments the Chemist was about to perform on him. He promptly turned it off.

The screen in front of Jazz, Tucker, and Sam went black and all three stared at it, mouths agape in horrified anticipation.

"Danny…" Sam whispered quietly, tears forming in her eyes.

"Oh, crap," was all Tucker could muster to say.

Jazz, realizing that she was the responsible one, took a deep breath and decided to take charge. "Guys—I think it's time we go on a mission. We've got some ingredients to find."

**Well, this ending isn't _that_ evil, right? We're just about to embark an a little adventure (which should be a relief after this whole "talking" chapter…) while flipping back from time to time to see Danny get tortured. Nothing too bad. :) PLEASE times a billion PLEASE review and tell me what you think. I love my reviewers!!!!!!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Okay, sorry once again for the lateness. You may want to get used to it, though…I tend to take long when it comes to writing the more complex stories…so sorry. PLEASE review, though. I didn't get that many for the last chapter ((sniffle)) So if you have the time, please review! Thanks!**

"NO!" Danny screamed, his eyes watering in pain. He had turned his head away to avoid the sight of the unnaturally long syringe needle injected into his arm. But that didn't seem to help at all. He still felt the needle sink into his skin and he winced, clenching his teeth.

"What are you doing to me?" Danny asked angrily.

The Chemist gave no answer to Danny's question, he merely pushed the liquid in the syringe into Danny's arm.

Danny turned his eyes to the ceiling, his heart beating wildly. He had no idea what to do. There was no escape. He had been tied to a wall with rope that prevented him from "un-going" ghost.

"Why?" was all Danny could muster before the pain in his arm became too much and the poison already in his body took effect. He passed out.

DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP

"Jazz, what are you doing?" Sam asked as Jazz scurried through her home, gathering what she believed was necessary for this trip.

"For your information, I'm getting cough medicine and more…objects that we could use to trade. We're going to need some ghost blood, Lunch Lady meat juice and Desiree magic," she gave a heavy, almost defeatist sigh and sat to bury her face in her hands. "I honestly don't know, you guys. I mean, Danny's only got 15 more hours with ghost powers…maybe only 15 more hours to LIVE. I don't think we're going to be able to get all of this stuff in time."

"We will," Tucker said, walking over to sit beside her. "We will because we have to."

"I wish it was that simple," Jazz said softly.

"It can be…if we would GET MOVING! It's not going to help Danny at all unless we're actually out there trying to help him!" Tucker said, not unkindly…just forcefully.

"Tuck's right, Jazz. We've got to get moving!" Sam concurred, jumping into the Specter Speeder and carrying with her as many things that Jazz had brought as possible.

Once everyone and everything were safely (and uncomfortably) packed into the Specter Speeder, Tucker initiated the "roar of the rockets" and the trio was off to save Danny Phantom.

DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP

Danny opened his eyes too quickly. He had been fast asleep, but was dreaming nothing but nightmares. He had broken out into a cold sweat and his head was pounding for him to shut his eyes once again. He complied with the urgings of his brain and squeezed his eyes closed to try and block out the pain.

He slowly reopened his eyes and looked around. The room had grown darker, but the glow of the "ecto-rope" that he was tied to the wall with gave just enough light that he could see inside his confining cage.

Upon observation of his right arm (the one that had been injected), Danny noticed that it had swollen up and that it was throbbing uncontrollably. What had the Chemist done to him?

Before he could register another thought, a searing pain shot through his body, focusing on his abdomen. He doubled over and winced in pain, his eyes so tightly shut that tears were streaming out of them without his noticing. Whatever this new injection was certainly wasn't helping matters.

When the pain had finally been reduced to an annoying sore, Danny took deep breaths to try to calm himself. He didn't know how much longer he had to live and he needed to conserve his energy and try to stay awake. There was no way he could escape. Even without the rope and cage, his powers and strength were being affected by the experiments the Chemist was conducting and he didn't have the wherewithal to fight and escape.

Team Phantom was his only hope.

And elsewhere in the Ghost Zone, Team Phantom was driven by the hope that Danny would hold out long enough for them to get to him.

**Yes, I know; not very long, but I am being kicked off of my own computer right now and I like how this segment ends. There was no other ending that I had in mind close, so I figured this will suffice for now. Please review!!! Thank you!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Once again, a change of plans was decided in my mind (I think I have 4 different outlines of this story, now). I'm not changing the beginning…just the parts you had no idea I was going to write anyway. So…enjoy and I'M BEGGING YOU—REVIEW, PLEASE!!! I promise to respond! And I _may_ read and review your stories if you review mine (it's a new policy I'm trying to work on—and it starts with this chapter). **

"GET OUT OF MY KITCHEN," the voice of the Lunch Lady carried through her house all the way to the front as Team Phantom managed to scurry out the door. They had apparently caught her and the Box Ghost at…um…the wrong time.

Jazz began to gag, "That is so wrong."

"Yeah," Tucker agreed, "and we didn't even manage to get any meat from the Lunch Lady!"

Sam frowned. "We NEED that juice. Danny's only got 10 hours left, and it may take that long just to get to the Chemist's house! What do we do?"

Both she and Tucker turned to Jazz. They were fresh out of ideas.

_Okay, Jazz, stay calm. Just keep your cool, and the ideas will come._

She stood with her eyes scrunched closed, trying with all of her immense brain power to think.

"Nothing," she said finally.

Sam and Tucker both hung their heads in disappointment. If Jazz couldn't think of anything, they were sunk. Danny was doomed.

"That's okay, Jazz. We don't blame you," Tucker said sadly.

"No, that's not what I mean," Jazz said quickly, wasting no time. "I mean we should _do_ nothing."

"What? We can't do NOTHING! Danny will die if we do nothing!"

Jazz rolled her eyes, "Okay, so not technically _nothing_, just not what we were planning on doing. Tucker, you still have that cough medicine, right?"

"Duh," Tucker said, still confused.

"Good. Now get into the Specter Speeder. I'll explain on the way."

Sam and Tucker exchanged confused glances, but Jazz had a small smile on her face. She knew they could pull this plan off. Years of protecting Danny's secret identity had, after all, made them masters of deception.

DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP

Danny was fighting to keep his eyes open. It had to have been a few hours since the last time he had seen the Chemist, but his latest concoction was doing a number on Danny. His stomach was roiling; it made him feel as though he was on a roller coaster—one that had forced him to rush to the bathroom following the ride, after leaving his stomach somewhere in the sky. He had the strangest feeling that his mind was no longer a part of his body. He had never felt so light-headed in his life…including last month's little shot incident.

Just when he thought he could take it no longer, the Chemist entered the room with a vial of liquid.

"I believe we have time for one lassssst tessssst. Your previoussss resultsssss have proven very useful already. I believe I will find a way to make ghostssss all-powerful with the ability to destroy all humansssss and rule the Earth."

Danny groaned weakly, unable to move or protest in any way. He tried in vain to scramble to the other end of his cell as one last act of defiance, but the Chemist grabbed the back of his head and forced him to tilt it upward so that the fluid could be ingested.

He tried again to turn his head away, but the Chemist was too strong (most likely having injected himself with whatever he had been experimenting on Danny to create in the first place) and Danny was too weak. He squeezed his eyes shut and felt the stinging tears of defeat roll down his cheeks as the liquid slowly made its way down his throat.

Once the vial was taken away, Danny tried to cough and spit out the liquid, but felt the Chemist's hand over his mouth, so he was forced to swallow.

"There. Now, let'sssss hope that the next blood sample I take (which should be in another hour, by the way) will prove even more usssssful thanksssss to my helpful little potion."

Another hour. This reminded Danny that he needed to ask the Chemist something, though he hated doing so.

"How much longer…?" was all he could muster as pain crossed the threshold of his mind once again.

The Chemist smiled evilly, "Before the poison takessssss itssss full effect? Eight hoursssss."

He quickly exited the room, leaving Danny to wallow in his pain and misery for another hour before anything of consequence was to happen. He turned onto his side, hoping to dull the pain in his stomach (unsuccessfully), and cried in utter hopelessness.

**Wow. Did you know "evilly" was a word? Me, neither, but it is. I shall put up the next chapter ASAP (as in right after this one)** **because they need to go up together. The only reason I'm stopping here is I've got about 7 hours of nothing happening in the storyline (other than Danny's blood being drawn, but we've already described that, so we shall skip it), and I need it to be known that there is a 7 hour leap in time from this chapter to the next. Separating by chapters is the easiest way to show passage of time, so…please read the next chapter and…REVIEW! Thanks.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Note: Make sure you read chapter 5 before chapter 6; I posted them at the same time, so MAKE SURE YOU'VE READ CHAPTER 5 BEFORE YOU START THIS ONE!!!!!!**

**Here it is…the FINAL CHAPTER! I know, even I wasn't expecting it to end so soon, but we must all let go of our beautiful plots eventually. ((sniff)) Now, maybe I can work on some other ones without the infamous, unfinished "Deception" clinging to my mind…**

**Hopefully the long-ness of this one makes up for the short-ness of the last 2. REVIEW, PLEASSSSSSSE!**

Team Phantom had "parked" the Specter Speeder at a safe distance away from what they assumed (and hoped) was the Chemist's house. At least, it looked creepy enough and matched the coordinates Tucker had measured the radio-camera's transmission had come from.

"Okay, so you know the plan?" Jazz said, looking intently back and forth between Sam and Tucker.

"Yeah, yeah. You've only gone over it 25 times, Jazz. We get it. I'm still under the conviction that you girls worry too much," Tucker answered, as care-free as ever.

Sam, however, was not so laid-back. "Tuck, this is serious. Danny's life hangs in the balance. If we don't act this out just right, he could die."

This reminder gave Tucker a little more solemnity as Jazz pulled the Specter Speeder up to the front door of the Chemist's house.

All three stealthily climbed out of the vehicle and Sam slowly opened the door, wincing at the smallest creak.

The front room seemed humble enough. Nothing more than a chair and a carpet sat in the middle of the room. Jazz looked ahead and saw a light coming from somewhere deeper in the house.

"Come on, follow me!" she whispered authoritatively, and the three were one their way.

DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP

Danny had managed to, in the past seven hours, sit up, but he was leaning on the bars of his cage and his chin rested on his chest, having not the energy to hold his head up. Thus, he heard rather than saw the Chemist enter the room.

"Ah, yesssss, the poison is taking its effect. Let'ssss see what you can do now, hm?"

Danny was surprised, though didn't have the energy to show it, when the Chemist came over to him and untied him from the ecto-rope.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Aren't you going to try to essssscape?" the Chemist taunted.

Darn right he was. Danny attempted to go intangible, but his heart beat faster when he realized that he couldn't. He physically couldn't control his ability to turn intangible anymore, and it scared him more than the torture and experiments the Chemist had been performing on him.

Then he heard the Chemist laugh. "You have lesssssss than an hour before your entire ghost half completely shutsssssss down, taking your human half with it. All of your ghost powersssss are now ineffective."

Danny's panic was rising as he realized that what the Chemist had said was true. His ghost-ray, ability to fly, everything was defunct.

"The infamoussssss halfa, Danny Phantom, isssss dying…and there'sssss nothing you can do about it," the Chemist cackled.

"But _we_ can!" Danny heard a familiar voice at the door of the room and summoned all of his strength to lift his head and be sure he hadn't imagined it (as the injections had been causing him to do a lot lately).

Tears of joy formed in his eyes when he saw his sister and two best friends standing at the door, staring down the Chemist.

Ever the clichéd villain (he must have, Danny decided, watched too many superhero movies), the Chemist remained calm and simply smiled at the children.

"Oh? And what, exactly, do you plan to do?"

"We have the antidote. We're going to cure Danny," Jazz said, her heart racing, hoping her plan would work and that the Chemist was not an extraordinarily stupid villain by not having what she needed.

Another maniacal laugh escaped from the Chemist. "Go ahead," he said, gesturing for Jazz to administer the medicine to Danny.

Jazz gulped and took a hesitant step forward. She made her way to Danny and tilted his head gently to allow him to drink the medicine.

"Jazz, what's going on?" Danny managed to say weakly.

"Shhh," Jazz said calmly, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to emerge from seeing her brother in this condition. "I don't have time to explain. Just hold on a little while longer."

When he had downed all of the liquid, Jazz backed up and scowled at the Chemist.

"There! Now he'll get better and we'll all be able to defeat you and escape!"

The Chemist continued to snicker confidently. "I think not, girl. You sssssee, I discovered the transssssmitter device long before the ghossssst-boy awoke. I anticipated that he would turn it on and attempt to learn the ingredientsssss of the antidote, hoping sssssomeone would find them and sssssave him," he pulled out a small vial. "Thissss is the only vial of the cure in existence, and there isss no way possssssible that you can--,"

He was then flung across the room, having been hit by a blast of ectoplasm.

"I highly doubt that," Tucker said, holding his ecto-blaster in a confident manner.

Sam rushed forward to pick up the vial from where it had fallen to the floor. She began to run toward Danny, but was hit by a blast from behind.

"I don't think ssssso," The Chemist said, flying at her where she now lay on the ground.

But Tucker was too quick for him and was in front of Sam, protecting her, in a heartbeat. He held up his gun to the Chemist's head.

"Ah, ah, ah! One more step…er…float…and I won't hesitate to shoot," he said with more bravado than he knew he had.

"Tucker, I can't move!" Sam said, panicking.

Danny, who was being quiet to conserve his last 10 minutes of energy, butted in, "He's more powerful, now, since he experimented on me. It might be some new power or something…" Danny said, trailing off as he had expended his last bit of energy and promptly fainted, turning human in the process.

Jazz saw Danny's head loll forward and knew she had to do something. She rushed toward Sam and grabbed the antidote she still held in her hands and ran back to Danny, hoping she wasn't too late.

His breathing was now rapid and shallow and she prayed this antidote was, in fact, the real one as she had planned. She tipped the vial into Danny's mouth.

"NOOOOOO!!!!!" The Chemist yelled in frustration.

Judging by this show of irritation, Jazz assumed this really had been the antidote and was relieved to an extent that, thanks to her history with psychology, she could predict the actions of an evil ghost.

However, there was still the matter of seeing if Danny was going to be okay—both halves of him. She pulled him out of his cage (he was human now and could, therefore, be easily pulled right through the bars) and set him down, still unconscious, against the wall.

She threw the ecto-rope that had been lying on the floor of Danny's cage to Sam, who was now able to move, thanks to the Chemist's lack of concentration during his rage.

"Tie him up and throw him in the cage, Sam. We should…give him a taste of his own medicine," she said, smiling to herself at her ability to finally make a pun.

When the Chemist was securely locked in his cage (and his annoying mouth taped shut), Team Phantom rushed over to Danny, who began to moan as he awoke.

"Wh—what's going on?" he asked, his mouth dry and his entire body aching.

"You're safe now, Danny. We came and stopped the Chemist. He can't hurt you, anymore," Sam said, tears forming in her eyes at the mere thought of what Danny had gone through.

Realization dawned on Danny, "Did it work? The antidote?"

Jazz eyed him worriedly, "I don't know, Danny. You're obviously not dead, but how's your ghost half?"

"Yeah, you're the one who would know, Danny. Did it work?" Tucker asked anxiously.

Danny looked to the ground, then a thought struck him and an evil grin spread across his face, "Only one way to find out."

DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP

Vlad Masters was standing outside of his mansion, checking that he had all of the supplies he needed. An ecto-blaster, his modified version of the ecto-skeleton, weapons of various uses and sizes; yep, everything that was necessary for the seizing of Amity Park and Maddie Fenton. It should be easy now that the 24 hours was up and he could be sure that the town's protector was out of the way.

Or so he thought.

He realized he was wrong as he flew across his front lawn and landed 15 feet away—blasted by an ghost-ray.

He lay on his lawn as Danny Phantom flew up to him, a confident smirk on his face.

"Not quite what you were expecting, huh?"

"No! It's not possible! How?!?" Vlad growled.

"That's what it's like to have friends, Vlad. They can help you in your time of need. Not that you would know anything about that."

Vlad merely sat on the ground, unable to believe that his beautiful plans had, once again, failed him.

"Well played, Daniel…" Vlad said, unable to think of a retort for his previous statement.

Danny began to fly away, certain that Plasmius would cancel his plans of the seizure of Amity Park knowing his rival was once again in his way, then turned around, unable to resist having the last word.

"Oh, and by the way, Vlad. I hope that last blast left a mark for which you will NEVER find a cure!"

THE END

**Yes, sad times. This is the end. Please, I'm begging you, REVIEW!! I will respond! Let me know how you liked it. As I've said, I LOVE my reviewers, favers and alerters; you're the reason I write. REVIEW! Thanks!**

**Oh, and you can thank purpledog100, ShieldMaid4JC, Dpbuckeye, The Midnight Phantomess (love ya), Me-against-the-world, fan-girls2.0, FantomoDrako (the first person to EVER review one of my DP stories), Phantom figure (thanks for favoriting me!), Twilight-Phantom66, and Lady Charity (mmm…maybe not…JK!) for helping me get this up so soon by reviewing me! I LOVE you guys and you deserve credit for giving me encouragement and inspiration to finish this story! **

**--DPSG1**


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